This invention relates to cattle feeders, and in particular to those feeders which are designed to be filled with feed at a filling station and then moved to a different location for feeding cattle.
One such cattle feeder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,290,042 issued on July 14, 1942 for an invention of A. D. GRANVILLE entitled Combination Feed Carrier and Feeder. A more modern cattle feeder is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,333 dated Jan. 1, 1974 for a Livestock Feeder. These and other prior cattle feeders use two spaced apart wheel axles secured to the floor structure of the feeder, one of which has steerable wheels and is connected to a draw bar for coupling behind a tractor or other farm equipment.
In such structures the floor of the feeder transmits the longitudinal forces from one axle to the other when the feeder is being displaced. These forces are considerable when such a cattle feeder is caused to travel fully loaded over unprepared grounds; the structure of the floor is often subjected to excessive tensions resulting in failure of floor components. In some cases the front axle or the rear axle may separate completely from the cattle feeder when obstacles on the ground are encountered.